Immigration plan designed to take 'pressure off' Sydney and Melbourne: Tudge12:48

FULL INTERVIEW: Minister for Cities, Urban Infrastructure and Population Alan Tudge says the government's soon-to- be-released immigration plan is designed to take population 'pressure' off Sydney and Melbourne.
In a speech delivered on Tuesday, Mr Tudge says the government is looking at options, including changes to visas and other incentives in order to entice new migrants away from population hubs Melbourne and Sydney.
Labor says it will consider the proposal as long as it is targeted, but has also raised an issue with temporary visa holders’ work rights.
Critics, including former Australian Border Force chief Roman Quaedvlieg, says the idea will be too hard to enforce.
The Minister says the Coalition's population 'agenda is broad' but not radical and designed to help move migrants into areas that are 'crying out' for workers.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced a radical new plan to combat Sydney’s population woes.Source:News Limited

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian wants the state to drastically slash its overseas migrant intake by up to 50 per cent, in a return to Howard-era immigration levels.

Speaking to the Today show this morning, she said this was not a decision taken lightly.

“I am a proud daughter of migrants and I also always want NSW to be the capital of multiculturalism to continue to be a welcoming place,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“What I’ve said is we definitely need to take a breather. We need to look at the numbers. They have gone up from 45,000, 10 years ago, to now 100,000. We are welcoming 100,000 into NSW every year.

“I am suggesting that number needs to be reduced. We need to take a breather, because my government is building more roads and rails, schools and hospitals than ever before in our state. We are playing catch-up and we need to take a breather to make sure that we have that infrastructure in place and to make sure that our population growth is sustainable.”

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian wants the state to drastically slash its overseas migrant intake by up to 50 per cent, in a return to Howard-era immigration levels. Picture: Ben Rushton/AAPSource:AAP

She said she would be having discussions with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and her federal colleagues on how to go about implementing this in the future.

“We need to plan properly for the future and I am looking forward to having those discussions with the Prime Minister and our federal colleagues. I’m really relieved the Prime Minister has invited the states for a seat at the table. I’ve been calling on this for a long time. The states have never had a voice … the states are the ones that need to build the infrastructure, to make sure we can have a sustainable population.

“The citizens of NSW expect me to have a say on these very important matters.

“I want to stress that I am absolutely committed to keeping NSW the great, multicultural place that it is. I have benefited from it and my family has. I want to ensure that we take a breather, because at the moment we are not coping with the growth.”

The Premier said we need to take a ‘breather’ and catch up on infrastructure and transport.Source:News Corp Australia

The Premier’s comments come as the Federal Government has announced a new plan to force thousands of overseas migrants to settle in cities outside Sydney and Melbourne for up to five years.

Population and Urban ­Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge said our unplanned population growth had led to an infrastructure and settlement imbalance, costing the nation up to $25 billion per year due to congestion in capital cities.

He also warned this would reach more than $40 billion within 10 years.

“Overall, the costs of congestion to the economy are already great, and rising steeply,” he said at a speech to the Menzies Research Centre in Melbourne yesterday.

“This is a serious challenge for families and a serious economic challenge for the nation. There was insufficient infrastructure built in the early 2000s, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, to cater for forecast growth, let alone the actual growth.”

The new visa condition will be placed on a pool of skilled migrants who are not tied to geographic areas — like those sponsored by companies or granted family visas.

Those who try to defy these conditions could have their visas revoked, or lose their chance at permanent residency to apply for citizenship.

The Government has announced a new plan to force thousands of overseas migrants to settle in cities outside Sydney and Melbourne for up to five years.Source:AAP

Over the past six months, concerns have been raised over whether our biggest cities can continue to cope under the strain of new arrivals, with Australia’s population surpassing 25 million earlier this month.

According to recent Department of Home Affairs figures, 87 per cent of the 111,000 skilled migrants who arrived in the country this past financial year had permanently settled in Sydney or Melbourne.

Between 2006 and 2016, the majority of arrivals have settled in Sydney or Melbourne, at 27.6 per cent and 26.3 per cent of total arrivals respectively.

By comparison, only 3.2 per cent moved to regional NSW, and 1.9 per cent to regional Victoria.

Under the new model, it’s understood the five-year period would be based on a threshold, after which migrants could stay in their location or move around.